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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5273
AN ACT CONCERNING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
INTERGOVERNMENTAL POLICY AND PLANNING DIVISION
WITHIN THE OFFICE OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT.
SUMMARY
This bill:
1. makes various changes to the regional performance incentive
program (RPIP), including its application requirements and
selection criteria (§ 7);
2. changes the rental rebate program’s deadlines for filing and
processing applications and eliminates the ability to apply to the
Office of Policy and Management (OPM) for an extension (§§ 8 &
9);
3. reduces, from 25% to 20%, the minimum revaluation phase-in
factor for municipalities opting to phase in a portion of a
revaluation increase, which allows them to phase-in up to 80%,
rather than 75%, over a maximum of five assessment years; and
4. limits the discretionary state funding applications to which
municipalities must attach a letter if they have not updated their
local plans of conservation and development (C&D) (§ 6).
The bill also makes the following changes to conform to current OPM
practice:
1. shifts, from municipal tax collectors to assessors, the requirement
to certify to OPM the revenue loss associated with the property
tax exemption for totally disabled homeowners (§ 1) and
2. requires the annual statements municipal and special taxing 2024HB-05273-R000227-BA.DOCX
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district tax collectors provide to OPM on their mill rate and tax
levy to be based on data for the ensuing, rather than preceding,
fiscal year, beginning with the FY 25 statements (§§ 2 & 3).
It also extends this annual mill rate and tax levy reporting
requirement to municipal special services districts and subjects them to
the same $100 fine for failing to file a true and correct statement that
applies to special taxing districts under existing law (§ 4). Lastly, the bill
eliminates an obsolete (1) state grant program designed to provide
formula grants to municipalities to address urban problems and (2)
provision on allocating payment in lieu of taxes grants for the
Torrington courthouse (§§ 10 & 11).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2024, except that the provisions on annual
mill rate and tax levy reporting to OPM are effective upon passage and
the revaluation phase-in provisions are applicable to assessment years
beginning on or after October 1, 2024.
§ 7 — RPIP
Eligible Purposes
The bill expands the eligible purposes for which OPM may award
RPIP grants to include services that two or more participating
municipalities or boards of education can provide on a regional and
ongoing basis, rather than services that one or more of these entities
currently provide but not on a regional basis. By law, eligibility for RPIP
grants is limited to councils of governments (COG) and regional
educational services centers (RESC).
As under existing law, OPM may also award the grants for (1)
redistributing specified state grants to municipalities according to
regional priorities, (2) regional revenue sharing among municipalities
that have entered certain agreements to do so, and (3) qualifying
regional special education initiatives.
Application Requirements
By law, applicants must include certain information about the
proposal and its projected benefits and implementation plan as part of 2024HB-05273-R000227-BA.DOCX
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their RPIP applications. The bill makes the following changes to this
required information:
1. requires applicants to include an estimate of the proposal’s
anticipated savings or costs that will be avoided during the grant
award period and in future fiscal years, rather than the amount
by which participating municipalities will reduce their mill rates
as a result of these savings;
2. requires that the implementation plan for the proposed regional
service or initiative address any potential growth or reduction in
participation rates during the grant award period; and
3. specifies that it include a copy of an acknowledgment, rather than
an acknowledgment itself, from any employer organization (e.g.,
labor union) potentially impacted by the proposal that it was
informed and consulted about it.
By law, the proposal must also include a resolution endorsing the
proposal from the COG’s or RESC’s governing body. Under current law,
this resolution must state that the entity will fund at least 25% of the
proposal’s first year costs and all of its costs by the fourth year. The bill
instead requires that the resolution affirm that the entity will fund an
increasing proportion of the proposal’s costs during the grant award
period, including 50% of the proposal’s costs by the end of the period
and all of its costs afterwards.
Selection Criteria
Current law requires the OPM secretary to award grants to proposals
that he determines best meet specified criteria, including that the project
demonstrate, compared to existing service delivery, increased capacity
and efficiency, a cost benefit to members, increased cost savings, and a
diminished need for state funding. The bill instead requires that the
secretary award grants to proposals that best reduce municipal and state
costs, enhance service delivery capacity, or improve the level of service
provided compared to having it delivered at the local level.
It also makes a conforming change by eliminating the criteria that the 2024HB-05273-R000227-BA.DOCX
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proposal include a statement that the applicant will fund at least 25% of
the proposal’s first year costs and all its costs by the fourth year.
Required Report to the Legislature
The bill requires the OPM secretary, in his annual report to the
legislature on RPIP, to describe the local or state cost savings, rather than
property tax reductions, achieved by the program.
§§ 8 & 9 — RENTAL REBATE PROGRAM
The bill advances the application deadline for the rental rebate
program by one day, from October 1 to September 30, and eliminates
the ability to apply to OPM for an extension by November 15 of the
claim year. Under current law, the OPM secretary can grant an
extension (1) for good cause or (2) if the applicant provides a certificate
(signed by a qualifying medical professional) that he or she was ill or
incapacitated because of extenuating circumstances.
By law, unchanged by the bill, local officials must forward rental
rebate applications to the OPM secretary by the end of the month
following the month in which the renter applied. By advancing the
application deadline to September 30, the bill also pushes up the
deadline for towns to forward applications to OPM from November 30
to October 31.
The bill correspondingly pushes back, from October 15 to November
15, the date by which OPM must make a list of approved applications
and forward them to the comptroller for payment. By law, unchanged
by the bill, the comptroller must draw an order on the state treasurer
within 15 days after receiving the list of approved payments from OPM.
Lastly, the bill makes a conforming change by eliminating a
requirement that renters apply for the rebate within a year after the year
for which they are requesting the grant.
§ 5 — REVALUATION PHASE-INS
Connecticut law allows municipalities to phase-in post-revaluation
assessment increases in property values over a period of up to five years.
When a revaluation is phased-in, the real property assessment 2024HB-05273-R000227-BA.DOCX
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represents less than 70% of the property’s revalued fair market value for
each year of a phase-in term. Phase-ins give taxpayers time to adjust to
assessment increases after a revaluation.
Existing law gives municipalities four options for phasing-in
revaluations, including one option that phases-in just a portion of the
increase in values or the overall rate at which they increased. Under
current law, if a municipality chooses this option, it may phase-in no
more than 75% of either increase. The amount or portion the town
phases-in is called the “phase-in factor,” and the town must uniformly
apply it to all types of property. The bill reduces the minimum phase-in
factor from 25% to 20%, which in turn allows municipalities to phase-in
up to 80%, rather than 75%, of either increase over a maximum of five
assessment years.
In practice, OPM applies this factor to all revaluation phase-ins,
regardless of whether they phase in all or part of the revaluation
increase. Based on this current practice, municipalities may only phase-
in revaluation increases for up to four years with a minimum phase-in
factor of 25% per year. So, reducing the phase-in factor from 25% to 20%
allows towns to phase-in a revaluation for up to five years. The law,
however, already allows towns to phase-in revaluation increases for up
to five years.
§ 6 — DISCRETIONARY STATE FUNDING APPLIC ATIONS
Under current law, any municipality that fails to update its plan of
C&D every 10 years must (1) submit a letter to specified state officials
explaining why it was not amended and (2) include a copy of this letter
in each application for discretionary funding it submits to any state
agency. The bill limits the funding applications for which municipalities
must attach this letter to those that exceed $25,000.
By law, unchanged by the bill, municipalities that fail to update their
plans of C&D or submit the letter described above are disqualified from
receiving discretionary state funds unless the OPM secretary waives this
provision. 2024HB-05273-R000227-BA.DOCX
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COMMITTEE ACTION
Planning and Development Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 19 Nay 2 (03/15/2024)